First question is - when in enhanced 'dual' mode on DSi are any features disabled? (eg. song mode, editing drums, copying patterns, 'lock' in pattern mode etc) This is my main frustration with using 2 DS Lites and DS10+.

Is it possible to run one instance in song mode and another in pattern mode or do both instances switch together?

Another question - how do you load your 'dual' projects? Are they saved/loaded together at once (ie they save with one filename with 1 or 2 at the end) or do you need to load/save them individually?

Last question - is there anyway to extend the length of song modes paltry 100bars by using enhanced mode? (short of switching to pattern mode at the end of your song)

Thanks for any advice you can give. I'm close to selling one of my DSes and ordering a US DSi and would like some answers to these questions before I make the jump...

KidQuaalude wrote:First question is - when in enhanced 'dual' mode on DSi are any features disabled? (eg. song mode, editing drums, copying patterns, 'lock' in pattern mode etc) This is my main frustration with using 2 DS Lites and DS10+.

No.

Is it possible to run one instance in song mode and another in pattern mode or do both instances switch together?

They switch together.

Another question - how do you load your 'dual' projects? Are they saved/loaded together at once (ie they save with one filename with 1 or 2 at the end) or do you need to load/save them individually?

They save as separate files. That could be nice in that you could mix and match your files, but it also means that a dual song takes up twice as much space on your cartridge. The demo song is actually a dual song... on the DSi you can load up the two parts in dual mode and hear how they work together.

Last question - is there anyway to extend the length of song modes paltry 100bars by using enhanced mode? (short of switching to pattern mode at the end of your song)

Apparently you can by playing through just the first deck and then switching over and playing through the second one, but I've never tried this. I don't use song mode anymore, I just play my songs live in pattern mode.

For extending beyond 100 pattern lengths select "A-B" in song mode. If you wish to exploit the ability to change tempos and feel (swing) in the change over from A to B you don't have to start at the beginning of the A song, you could start the song at pattern 56 and have a tempo change after 44 patterns if you like.

KidQuaalude wrote:So using this A-B mode to entend song mode over 100bars would I be right in saying it would limit you to using only the 'deck A' synths in part one and only 'deck B' in part 2?

Not at all. The decks are "stacked" on top of each other within the 16 patterns. You can choose to integrate the two decks into a single musical idea that uses all four synths and the two drum machines or you can treat them independently and effectively get 32 regular DS-10 patterns. You can use the mutes within song mode to isolate either deck A or B or individual elements from each deck whether you are in part 1 or part 2.